The Great Jesus Debates

Early Church history is a passing interest of mine. After all, what happened in the first couple of centuries really laid the foundation for what followed. While we may not think actively about it, a lot of what gets taught in churches nowadays are an outgrowth of the debates that raged in the early centuries.

In his book, The Great Jesus Debates, Douglas W. Johnson, examines four debates that raged in the early centuries of the Church, namely the Gnostics, the Arian controversy, the Christological debates between the schools of Antioch and Alexandria, and the war of words between Augustine and Pelagius.

I had to study these controversies in the Seminary ten years ago, so Johnson's book was a good review for me, especially for the whole Alexandria/Antioch arguments. But like I said, this is a good, easy to read book that examines what was at stake as the early Church Fathers dealt with Gnostics, Arians, and so on. If you've got even a slight interest in where the Church came from, this is one for you.

CSFF Blog Tour: Wayfarer's Journal Day Three

Whoops. The days have gotten away from me, it seems. Blame it on the new job. I don't have much time, so I'll spew my random thoughts and then it's back to planning Christmas services for me.

So what else can I say about Wayfarer's Journal? Since it is still in its infancy, it's hard to say what kind of impact it will have on the world of Christian fiction. But I noticed this afternoon that one of the current stories posted on the site relates to my point I made on Monday. Soulless by Donna Sundblad is a good example of a writer playing with a dilemma that may face Christians in the distant (or even not too distant) future. Do cloned human beings have souls since they were made in a lab?

Believe it or not, I recently had the misfortune of engaging someone in a debate over this very topic. This individual's beliefs skewed very closely to those of Pastor Haden in Sundblad's story. He was absolutely sure that clones would not have souls since they were genetic copies of another individual.

I have to applaud Sundblad's efforts in this story. She occupied Rachel's mind well enough that I seriously thought she (the author) believed that clones were indeed soulless. The sudden twist at the end was artfully put in place to reveal her true beliefs and it almost worked.

Almost. I do have a few gripes about the story itself. For starters, the fact that it's mostly a gigantic flashback of a guy preaching makes the story a little static. It's more telling than showing. It may have been more effective if Sundblad had started with Rachel leaving the church, overhearing the elderly parishioners complaints, and then heading out to meet Abigail. On the way, she could have stopped and interacted with some of these servant clones she mentions. This would have given Sundblad an opportunity to show us Rachel interacting with these people she believes are soulless. Through her actions, we could see how she looks down on them and it would have been a bit more effective.

The only other thing that bothered me was that I saw the ending coming from almost the beginning. The minute it was revealed that Rachel was adopted, I had a sneaking suspicion of what Abigail would tell her. Unfortunately, I was correct so the twist was somewhat twistless for me.

But I still think that Sundblad has hit upon what Christian sci-fi is good for. Like I said in my previous post, it allows us to examine thorny moral and ethical dilemmas before they're upon us so we can form rudimentary positions before they hit. And for that, I say kudos!

And kudos to Wayfarer's Journal as well for providing the forum. May it not be alone for long.

CSFF Blog Tour: Wayfarer's Journal Day One

You may have noticed that my location has changed. That's right, as of about a week and a half ago, my family moved from the home of the Jolly Green Giant to South Saint Paul, the home of .... uh .... I'll have to get back to you. I think present Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty was born here, but he's not many stories tall and made of fiberglass. At least, I don't think he is.

I seem to have gotten off topic a bit. Oh yeah. I moved recently. Our new home is not completely settled yet. There are boxes to be stored and pictures to be hung. So why am I at my computer, frantically typing away at a blog entry?

Because this month we're featuring Wayfarer's Journal, an on-line publication dedicated to science fiction with a spiritual edge.

I know I've harped on this in the past, but this is something that is sorely needed in Christian fiction. As Wayfarer's editor Terri Main said in a recent press release, with the ever changing technological landscape, Christians are being presented with new situations and dilemmas constantly. Wouldn't it be nice if, instead of having to deal with it in a knee-jerk, last-minute fashion, we could bat ideas around in a safe environment and see what kind of conclusions we draw?

Let me paint you a quick example. Researchers are constantly working on artificial intelligence. I don't know what they've gotten robots to do recently. Last I heard, I think they built a robot who could recognize emotions on a person's face. Personally, I won't be interested until they invent a robot that can clean our house from top to bottom (and no, Roombas don't count).

Anyway, let's say that at some point in the near future, some scientist whacks his head while hanging a clock in his bathroom and envisions how to creat a flux capacitor ... oh, wait. Wrong story. This genius scientist hits upon the quantum leap that allows a robot to think for itself. The robot is now an autonomous creature, a sentient being. We'll name the robot Gnosis (since Data is copyrighted). Would Gnosis have a soul? Could a mechanical being built in a lab by human beings be endowed with a spiritual side that seeks God? Who's to say that it (or he) can or can't?

I don't know about you, but the day Gnosis stumbles or rolls or whatever onto the scene, I'd rather have had some time to play with those thoughts and come up with some tentative answers rather than panic and go with a knee-jerk, gut-shot reaction. I mean, think of the furor that arose when human cloning became a real possibility. If we had had Christian sci-fi writers playing with that concept for a while, the Christian community might have been better suited to provide a rational, thought-out reaction.

Maybe it's just me that thinks that way. Whatever the case, I'm glad that there are more and more outlets for those of us who want to take flights of fancy into the speculative unknown.

So what will I talk about tomorrow? Probably not moving. Hopefully no more references to '80s movies. We'll just have to wait and see.

The Bark of the Bog Owl

... or really, really, really late CSFF Blog Tour! Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, I missed the original blog tour for this book. But I feel bad and I've had "review that book" at the top of my to-do list for a while now.

What book is that? The Bark of the Bog Owl by Jonathan Rogers. The best way to sum up this book is if Mark Twain told the story of King David. Well, if Mark Twain wasn't an avowed atheist, that is.

In this book, Aidan Errolson dreams of joining the Corenwald army and becoming a warrior but the many letters he sends to King Darrow are never answered.

But Aidan's life is turned upside down in a number of ways. First of all, he meets Dobro Turtlebane, one of the feechiefolk, a group of half civilized swamp dwellers who live to fight and tussle and get into trouble. Dobro had me laughing out loud after he popped up on the scene and I absolutely adored the feechiefolk. The more of them I see, the better.

More troubling is the pronouncement by Bayard the Truthspeaker, an old man who declares that Aidan will one day be king of Corenwald. That odd prophecy sends Aidan on a wild adventure as Corenwald faces off against the Pyrthen Empire, their traditional enemy.

This was a great read (hence the reason why I've felt so guilty for not posting this review during the blog tour). Rogers captures the south and transplants the story of King David into that cultural milieu with a great deal of humor. Like I said, the feechiefolk were my favorite part and often had me laughing out loud.

The one minor complaint I had about this book is the fact that, if you knew David's story, you knew exactly what was going to happen all along the way. A little bit of deviation from the script would have been okay by me. It's not a bad thing per se, but it would have made this book spot-on perfect.

I know I won't be able to participate in the next blog tour due to the move, but I'm hoping I'll be back on board for December. And hopefully I won't get so blasted far behind again.

AWOL

Yes, I know. I've neglected my duties as a blogger. I missed the October CSFF Blog Tour (and I feel horrible about that. I.O.U. one book review which I hope to get to sometime this week). So why the disappearing act from yours truly?

Well, it's because I have a new job.

No, I haven't quit the pastoring game. Instead, I'll be pastoring in a new place soon. I was recently "called" to be pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church in South Saint Paul, Minnesota. And after close to a month of deliberations, I accepted said call. So I'll soon be leaving Blue Earth and heading "up north" to the Twin Cities to start in my new position.

Needless to say, it's been a stressful month. The week of the blog tour, I was actually up in South Saint Paul meeting with the congregation to gather more data and see what kind of housing is available.

Now that I've taken the call, Jill and I need to find a house. That's proven a bit tricky. We thought we had found a great one. It had been foreclosed on and was an absolute mess, but it was in great shape under the mess. Sadly, by the time I made my decision, it had already been sold.

Yesterday we looked at six houses, five of which weren't do-able. The sixth could work but head clearance is an issue. This morning, we found another house that's a little bit pricey but could be do-able so we're hoping to look at it soon.

So anyway, a lot of stuff might be on hold for the time being as we try to figure this out. For example, I had to pass on NaNoWriMo this year because I knew there was no way I'd have time to bang out 50,000 words.

But anyway, hopefully we'll have all this figured out and will be settled in very soon.

Hopefully.

It's finally here!

Marcher Lord Press is finally here! A Christian speculative fiction-only press, dedicated to going out into the wild frontiers of fiction to see what beasties lurk and linger.

And I gotta say, I couldn't be more excited.

Especially since I started looking through the "submission" form and saw the three basic rules for submitting to MLP:

"If your completed manuscript is shorter than 65,000 words, you need not apply.
If your novel isn't in a speculative genre (like science fiction, fantasy, or the like), look elsewhere.
If your book does not arise from a Christian worldview and is not in any real sense a Christian book, please do not proceed.
Such questions are deal-breakers. Be forewarned."

Hee hee. Check, check, check.

The Grand Crusade

I finished Michael Stackpole's The Grand Crusade the other night. I'd like to say that the end of the DragonCrown War Cycle is a slam dunk, but in some ways, it left me with the same disappointed aftertaste it did when I read it the first time.

Part of the reason why is because of Stackpole's lengthy descriptions of battles. I marvel at his attention to tactical detail and wonder how he plans them out so vividly (although I do wonder if maybe he gives us a hint as to how when he said that Alexia based her Dream Raid visions on historical battles, just set in a new location). The problem is that it's so much exposition that it gets a little wearing.

The other problem, and I remember this clearly from the first time I read it, was the introduction of the Oromise as the motivation for Chytrine's mad quest to conquer the world. There's little explanation of her motivation in the previous three books. There's only a hint of the Oromise in the previous. But now, suddenly, we're suddenly awash in backstory that was a little overwhelming. In short, it should have been mentioned or at least hinted at from the very beginning.

But let's be clear. That doesn't invalidate what's good about this book and there is a lot. The final defeat of the Empress of Aurolan comes at a price for our heroes and it all is constructed very well.

When Dragons Rage

Late last night I finished re-reading When Dragons Rage by Michael Stackpole.

The on-going war with Chytrine has hit sometihng of a speedbump. Kedyn's Crow's secret has been revealed to the world and now his friends must save him from execution at the hands of the cowardly King Scrainwood. In the meantime, General Adrogans fights to liberate Okrannel from Chytrine's forces even as the northern empress's troops ravage the once mighty Fortress Draconis.

Even after those initial threats are resolved, things spin out of control. What will happen as Will Norrington and his band of friends are summoned to help a country under assault by Chytrine's forces? What will happen when Chytrine springs an unexpected trap on Adrogans? And can Prince Erlestoke make it south from Fortress Draconis with a precious fragment of the DragonCrown? Or will Chytrine claim that piece as well?

I could keep describing the plot, because there's a lot of layers to it. There's Kerrigan Reese, the Vilwan Adept who learns more and more about the nature of magick from a mysterious tutor. There is Isaura, Chytrine's daughter, who seems a bit conflicted about her mother's predations.

But there is one thing that I realized I haven't touched on, the thing that makes this book series so fascinating: the introduction of dragonels.

In The Dark Glory War, we're presented with a medieval society. Bows and arrows, swords and cavalry, all that sort of thing. Then, toward the end of the book, Chytrine introduces a new weapon that tips the balance of power. Stackpole calls it a dragonel. We know it better as a cannon.

A large part of the plot of this book is the introduction of gunpowder-based weapons into a world of sword and sorcery. How do people cope with this new technology? How do people react to dragonels and draconettes (black-powder rifles)?

Once agian, this reveals Stackpole's strength when it comes to world building. He creates a world with its own logic and then upends everything by introducing a new element.

So I've got one book left in the trilogy. I can't wait to read it again. And if you haven't read Stackpole before, go get his books. Trust me. It'll be worth it.

CSFF Blog Tour: The Return Day Three

Once again, gentle readers, we come to the end of another blog tour. We've examined The Return by Austin Boyd. I realize I may have been a bit negative yesterday but it was said out of love. I really loved these books and I really enjoyed seeing some sci-fi concepts trotted out in a Christian book. It made me want to stand up and shout, "See! It can work!"

I suppose what might put some people off from these books is that it deals with aliens. Christians tend to shy away from that subject and with good reason. Christian author Jefferson Scott (aka Jeff Gerke) did a "white paper" on this business called "UFOs and the Christian Worldview" that I found fascinating. But still, what about them aliens? Could they be real? Is it possible that God created intelligent life somewhere out there?

From where I'm sitting, the possibility is open. There's nothing in the Bible that precludes the possibility so far as I'm concerned. The universe is exceedingly vast and could contain planets on which life could not only exist, but thrive. The other day, MSN had a slideshow about extrasolar planets, including the recent discovery of a planet that orbited its star in a habitable zone. Could there be life there? There's really no reason for a Christian to say "No" or "Yes" definitively for reasons of theology.

But let's just suppose for a moment that intelligent life does exist. How would said sentient beings fit into God's salvation history?

Well, C.S. Lewis certainly had one answer. In his Space Trilogy, Lewis posited that each planet would have an "Eden" period where the denizens of said planet would be tempted. They would either resist or fall on their own. If they resisted, they would mature past the temptation period and continue in an unfallen state (such as the people of Perelandra).

But what would happen if they fell into sin? Lewis does some speculating on that subject in an essay called "Religion and Rocketry" (which is contained in the book The World's Last Night). He says that in that case, the fallen species would be visited by Christ and redeemed in a way that was significant to them. It may not involve death and resurrection as we know it, but it would redeem them from their sin.

That's certainly a fun possibility. But what if it worked the other way? What if humanity's fall dragged the rest of the intelligent species down with us? What if they all suddenly fell into sin?

I would suspect that humanity's redemption would be the alien's redemption as well. I even think Romans 8:19-21 could support this view.

To put it in terms of a human analogy, suppose you have a series of light bulbs wired together in a circuit. My understanding of electrical engineering is admittedly basic, but I do know that if one lightbulb burns out, the rest of them would go dark as well. The current would be interrupted by the burned out bulb. But if you replace the burned out bulb and light it up again, the rest would burn brightly as well. I think that's the way it could work with intelligent alien life. Our bulb burned out, theirs all went dark. Our bulb was replaced, theirs can now burn brightly again.

Granted, all of this is speculation. I'm dancing on the end of a very thin tree branch right now and it could snap off under me. But isn't the possibility intriguing?

If you agree, then write to Christian publishers and tell them to take a look at my sci-fi trilogy, because it's based on that crazy speculation that I just spilled out here. ;-)

Yes, I know, shameless plug. But Austin Boyd's book stirred up some intellectual curiousity in me again and I know he can do the same for you.

Be sure to check out the rest of the blog tour:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Merrie Destefano or Alien Dream
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Rachel Marks
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Lyn Perry
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: The Return Day Two

So today I'm going to talk about the 2 1/2 things that bothered me about The Return by Austin Boyd. In this discussion, spoilers are going to be zinging around like crazy. You have been warned. If you haven't read the books and don't want the plot to be ruined, especially the ending of the story, stop reading now. Jump down to the bottom and go visit the other blog tour participants or something. Come back after you've read and enjoyed the books and see if you agree with me. I won't be offended. Honest.

Okay, now that they're gone, let's talk about the things that bugged me about the way the trilogy ended.

First of all, there's what I call the Joseph Dodge. At the end of The Proof, Amy Wells and her children, the family of hero John Wells, are supposedly killed when a terrorist shoots down a helicopter carrying them and the Vice President. John is crushed by their deaths.

But hold on! It turns out that Amy and company aren't really dead! Look-alikes had taken their place and the real Wells family were spirited off to a compound run by the nefarious Father Malcolm Raines.

I have to say, when I first read that, I was salivating. I loved it. Why had Raines spared Amy? My mind filled in the blanks: earlier in The Proof, Amy had smashed Raines in a televised debate about his beliefs concerning the Father Race. Perhaps Raines, rather than be infuriated, was attracted to Amy's fire. Perhaps he had her kidnaped so he could work his charm on her and possibly try to claim her as his own.

But then it was revealed that it was the Father Race (or rather, the people behind the Father Race) who wanted Amy Wells kidnaped. And so I speculated as to why that would be. Perhaps they knew that John, after making the journey home from Mars alone, wouldn't return to the red planet and so they "killed" his family so he'd have nothing left and the way would be clear for him to return. Why did they want him back there? I had no idea but couldn't wait to find out.

So what did I find out? Nothing. Boyd never wrapped up this plotline. He never explained what the motivation was for faking the death of Amy Wells and family and keeping them alive. Oh, sure, God wanted it to happen so Amy could witness to Monique and then all the clone girls could be saved, but that's not why Malcolm Raines or the Father Race would want them kidnaped.

Worse than that, Boyd drew a big red circle around this lack of motive not once, but twice, by likening the situation to Joseph in Egypt (the first time in the story itself, the second in the faux article in the appendix). Truth be told, I hadn't noticed the lack of motive until Boyd pointed it out. That only made me frustrated because as I finished the book, I was left asking, "Hey yeah! What was that all about?"

From where I'm sitting, going to the trouble of saving Amy Wells and keeping her and her children alive for six years (if memory serves) makes no sense unless the bad guys had a larger purpose. If they had one, we should know what it is.

Besides, the Joseph connection doesn't really pan out. Yes, Joseph's brothers meant Joseph's slavery for evil, just as the Father Race people meant Amy's kidnaping for evil as well. But the difference is, we know why Joseph's brothers did what they did! We're told what their motive is, which makes the revelation that God intended it for good so much more powerful.

As it stands, the Joseph Dodge in The Return seems more like a deus ex machina than anything else. Why did they spare Amy Wells? What was their reasoning? I'll never know, unfortunately, and that left a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth.

The second thing I didn't like didn't help either, and that's what I call the 3-2-1 Muddle.

Already in The Evidence, we learn that whoever is behind the whole plot has an obsession with the numerical sequence of 3-2-1. John Wells comes up with a whole list of 3-2-1 appearances in the end of The Return.

As I was reading the trilogy, I was expecting some sort of evil genius to be behind the whole plot, someone for whom the 3-2-1 sequence had special meaning. That's why the number kept popping up everywhere. Whoever was doing it was putting his or her signature on every event, either for spiritual reasons (it has to be there for it to work) or for egomaniacal reasons ("I'm signing my name to every event and no one will figure it out!"). I thought maybe this individual was doing this because he believed himself to be descended of the Father Race and was going to populate Mars with people made in his own image.

But then we find out the whole plot was cooked up by the Chinese in the end of the book. They sponsored the terrorist attacks. They built the spiderwalkers. They funded Raines's cult. They helped create the clones and were going to harvest them for biotechnological research. At the same time, we found out that Rex Edwards was the one who was obsessed with 3-2-1, yet as near as I could tell, Edwards was just a harmless dupe, a true believer in the Father Race who was used by the Chinese government to perpetrate this massive fraud.

When I learned that, I think I nearly drowned in cognitive dissonance. If Rex Edwards had been the egomaniacal individual behind the cult, behind the aliens, behind everything, then the 3-2-1 fingerprint would make sense. But if the Chinese were ultimately responsible, why would they orchestrate everything so it centers around 3-2-1? It wouldn't make sense for them.

I almost got the impression that Boyd intended to hang the blame on Rex Edwards, but then sometime between The Proof and The Return, he had a change of heart. He didn't want to do that to Rex for whatever reason and shifted the blame to the Chinese. I don't know that's what he did for sure, but it felt that way.

Here's part of the reason why the Chinese as the perpetrators doesn't sit well with me: the plot is too grandiose! If all they were after was a leg up on the biotechnology boom, why go through the elaborate hoax? Why reveal their 321 clones to the world when they know that Western nations might object? Why create fake aliens the way they did? Sure, it might damage Christianity in China, but if the hoax is revealed, wouldn't that have the opposite effect?

It just didn't sit well with me. I would much rather have found out that Rex Edwards, mad with power and money, was behind the whole plot because to me, that would have made more sense.

And the half-gripe I have, well, it doesn't have a fancy name. It's just this: I wish that Boyd hadn't lifted the curtain on the hoax right away. It might have made the ride a little more interesting if he didn't reveal the nature of the aliens so early. It would have been more fun, I think, if he left the possibility that the aliens were real open and only revealed how the whole plot hung together in the last book.

It'd be kind of like my favorite Christian novel, A Skeleton in God's Closet. In that book, a group of archaeologists discover what they believe is the mortal remains of Jesus Christ. Throughout the whole book, the reader is left hoping that it all turns out to be fake, but Dr. Paul Maier, the author, doesn't let you off the hook until the very end. It ratcheted up the tension for the book because you're always asking yourself, "What if it's real? How could it be real? Where's he going with this?"

I think the same might have helped the Mars Hill Classified Series a little. If we were left to wonder if the aliens were real or not, it would have made the grand reveal of the plotters in the end that much more exciting and climactic.

Now, having said all this, that doesn't mean that I didn't like the books. I loved them. I'm glad I read them. I just wish things had been a little more tight in the last book so I wouldn't be left thinking, "I liked these books, but...." I just wish I could get rid of that "but."

But enough from me. Go check out what the other participants are up to:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Merrie Destefano or Alien Dream
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Rachel Marks
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Lyn Perry
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: The Return Day One

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time once again for the monthly Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour. This month, we're focusing on the book The Return by Austin Boyd, the third book in the Mars Hill Classified trilogy. Seeing as this is book three, we should really talk about books one and two first, right? Right.

The story starts with a literal bang in The Evidence. It's 2011 and terrorists launch a series of attacks on a number of Air Force bases linked to monitoring space launches as well as Washington, D.C. It would appear that the attacks were perpetrated by Iranian terrorists and soon, there's the usual saber rattling going around as people try to bring them to justice.

But things only get stranger. Out of nowhere, a signal from Mars originates from Mars that scientists believe is the Viking 1 lander. But when they decode the signal, they realize that it's actually a picture of the lander, something that should be impossible. Could it be that there are aliens on Mars, broadcasting that image?

That seems to be the beliefs of Father Malcolm Raines, a charismatic prophet who preaches that the aliens will soon send a message to the people of earth. And sure enough, an alien probe whizzes by the earth and broadcasts just such a message. That's followed by the appearance of two strange alien landers on Mars.

Caught in the middle of all the excitement is astronaut John Wells and his family. John isn't quite sure what to make of all the idea that there really is intelligent life out there, especially when the message of Malcolm Raines conflicts with John's Christian faith. But what can he do when all the evidence points in that direction?

Book two, namely The Proof, picks up where the first book left off. John is on his way to Mars to see if the aliens are real. But it turns out that he didn't have to travel that far. The aliens show up on Earth, popping up in metallic spider walkers. And Father Malcolm Raines is able to predict every appearance. Could it be that Raines's belief that the aliens are really humanity's Father Race is true?

But John can't focus on that. He's got his hands full shepherding his crewmates, Michelle and Sean. He has to be their eyes in the sky while they investigate Mars, meeting the spider walkers and looking for water and life. But then disaster strikes on the way home. The reader thrills with John as he tries to return home with the proof, only to be devastated when he actually does return by a shocking attack.


And that brings us to the third and final book, The Return.

John Wells returns to Mars as part of a larger expedition, only to discover that he and his fellow explorers are not alone. What he doesn't realize is that his family is in the clutches of the nefarious Father Malcolm Raines. The story that started in The Evidence comes to a pulse-pounding end as John unravels exactly what's been going on.

I really enjoyed this trilogy. In many ways, it reminded me of Tom Clancy's novels, especially the first book with the terrorist attacks. Austin Boyd, a NASA astronaut finalist, is able to bring a level of authenticity to the story. You can see this possibly happening and that's what makes it such a rip-roaring ride.

I think this is great proof that Christians can produce some killer science fiction (and I'm not just saying that because I have a sci-fi trilogy of my own sitting on a bookshelf, waiting for the day the market is a bit more receptive. Nope, not at all). While there were moments where it felt like Boyd was getting on a soap box and preaching at the wrong moments, those were few and far between and certainly didn't detract from the story as a whole. It was an exciting ride from beginning to end.

That being said, I do have two major gripes about the story, especially how it unfolded in The Return. I won't go into that today because to do so, I'd have to reveal some major spoilers (which I realize I kind of did with my reviews of all three books, but c'mon, it's hard not to do that). Tomorrow I'll dissect those two flaws and reveal a third, minor complaint.

In the meantime, go visit my fellow blog tourians:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Merrie Destefano or Alien Dream
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Rachel Marks
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Lyn Perry
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Fortress Draconis

It's a generation after the events of The Dark Glory War. The previous set of heroes that set out to oppose Chytrine, the evil queen of the north, have been turned to her side and serve as her generals. Now a new group of heroes must rise and oppose them lest the entire world be overrun with evil.

I just love Michael Stackpole books.

Fortress Draconis continues the struggle against Aurolani forces and expands on the world exponentially. Whereas The Dark Glory War focused solely on the adventures of Tarrant Hawkins, this book has a cast of dozens and many branches of the same story.

For example, there's the story of Will the Nimble, an orphan thief who is brought out of the ghetto known as the Dimandowns by a Vorquelf named Resolute and a man known simply as Kedyn's Crow and learns of his grander destiny, one that he simply cannot avoid. Then there's Kerrigan, the Vilwanese Adept, possibly the most powerful wizard alive, who desperately needs to mature as he leaves his island sanctuary. Add to the mix Princess Alyx and her Gyrkyme "sister" Perri, two warriors caught up in the struggle to free Alyx's home country. Throw in General Adrogans, a seemingly pompous military genius, overlay it all with political intrigue, and build it on a rich backstory with some very sharp wit, and you have an engaging read that will keep you rooting for the good guys to crush Chytrine.

My one gripe (and I brought this up in my review of The Dark Glory War) is that if you've read that book (and you almost have to), you know one of the "big secrets" in this book from the very beginning. The reveal on the last page is somewhat anticlimactic because of that. Maybe you could read Fortress Draconis first and then The Dark Glory War. It's hard to say.

But that's not to say that it completely ruins the story. There's no way it could. Once again, Stackpole creates a rich world that hangs together very well with engaging characters who are set on opposing their evil nemesis. You can't go wrong with an epic story like that.

Finish Line

96,280 words. 379 pages. 50 chapters plus an introduction. And I call this monstrosity The Return of the Mourning Dove.

That's right, I finished the first draft of my novel not five minutes ago!

It feels good to be done, although I worry that most of what I've produced is garbage and unsalvagable.

But on the plus side, this has got to be the fastest I've ever written a book (not that I've produced too many). I think I started in the last week of July and had set a deadline of finishing by the end of September, so I'm actually two weeks early.

So what now? Now's the easiest part of writing for me: the cooling off period. I'm going to set the manuscript aside for a few months. That way I can come back to it with a critical eye ... say, around Christmas or so. I already know that two scenes have to be completely redone and one has to be added. And I'm worried that all sorts of plotholes lurk within its pages.

But I gotta say, it still feels pretty good to be done.

The Dark Glory War

So I guess I'm back on my Michael Stackpole kick again. Two days ago, I finished reading The Dark Glory War.

This is actually a prelude to his DragonCrown War Cycle (which I just started rereading) and sets up the event of that trilogy.

In this book, Tarrant Hawkins and his friends, Leigh Norrington, Naysmith Carver, and Rounce Playfair, become men at a pivotal moment in history. The forces of Chytrine, the evil queen of the north, have been found near their home in Oriosa. Soon Tarrant, Leigh, and Nay are on the adventure of a lifetime, traveling with heroes of every stripe to stop Chytrine and bring her threat to an end.

But as Tarrant learns, being a hero sometimes isn't an easy road to walk, especially when you can't always identify who your enemies really are.

Once again, Stackpole does a great job creating an engaging, rich story. One of his fortes is world- and culture-building and he puts it to good use in this world.

For example, one of the most fascinating things about Tarrant and his friends is that they all wear masks in public. All the nobles of Oriosa do; to be barefaced is to be naked. Whenever I read a Stackpole book, I know I'm going to be dropped into a different culture that's been well put-together with a deep history.

I do have a problem with this book, though, and it revolves around Tarrant Hawkins. If you've read this book and then go on to Fortress Draconis, the first book in the DragonCrown War Cycle, you'll basically ruin the first big surprise of the DragonCrown War Cycle. Or, at the very least, you'll ruin what's supposed to be the first big surprise of the DragonCrown War Cycle. That's what happened to me at any rate. I got to the end of Fortress Draconis, I hit the "big reveal," and my response was, "Well, duh! I knew that already!"

The problem is that to really understand what's happening in the DragonCrown War Cycle, you have to read The Dark Glory War first. Many of the concepts and history behind the trilogy is explained in the prelude.

It's not a reason to not read the books, it's just a warning. If you like some high fantasy adventure, you can't go wrong with this book and the ones that follow.

The Case for the Real Jesus

Have you noticed that every year right around Easter we have another "major discovery" that somehow sheds light on who the "real Jesus" was? A few years ago, it was the Gospel of Judas. This past year, it was the so-called "Jesus family tomb" in Talpiot. In the past we've had the Jesus Seminar weigh in on what Jesus supposedly really said and did. What's a Christian to think? Who is the real Jesus?

That's where Lee Strobel's latest book, The Case for the Real Jesus comes in. Strobel has once again crossed the country to speak with experts on some rather sticky questions. They are:

"Scholars are uncovering a radically different Jesus in ancient documents just as credible as the four Gospels."

"The Bible's portrait of Jesus can't be trusted because the Church tampered with the text."

"New explanations have refuted Jesus' resurrection."

"Christianity's beliefs about Jesus were copied from pagan religions."

"Jesus was an imposter who failed to fulfill Messianic prophecies."

"People should be free to pick and choose what to believe about Jesus."

I was impressed with the evidence that Strobel assembled. I especially appreciated the work that he did on the first two challenges about ancient texts and the idea that the Church changed what the Bible said. I hear those ideas thrown around a lot and they bug me because they simply aren't true, yet people keep trumpeting those ideas as if they're (pardon the pun) gospel.

What makes this book a nice read is that Strobel keeps the discussion accessible. This isn't a book filled with scholarly diatribes and thirty-dollar theological terminology. It's a good entry-level discussion of the issues. It's good to get the general gist of what it's all about.

On a personal note, I was tickled to see Randall Ingermanson quoted for his statistical ananlysis of the Talpiot ossuaries. I also laughed whenever I encountered quotes from Dr. Paul Maier (Lee, if you ever stumble into my blog and see this, be sure to interview Dr. Maier for a future book! He'd be a worthy addition to your cavalcade of Biblical scholars).

At any rate, if you want a sober judgment of recent developments in the search for the so-called "historical Jesus," you can't go wrong by reading this book.

Stardust

I took a break from gorging on Michael Stackpole books to cleanse my palate by reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Actually, it wasn't truly to cleanse my palate. In reality I was hunting for gay sky pirates.

See, I read Stardust a few years ago. This and Neverwhere convinced me to read more Gaiman. I was thrilled to hear that the book was being adapted into a movie. But for the life of me, I couldn't remember any gay sky pirates in the book. Not a single one (although to be fair, a gay sky pirate in a Gaiman novel wouldn't exactly stand out of the crowd).

So off I went through the hole at Wall and into the land of Faerie, traveling with Tristran Thorn as he searched for the fallen star to bring back to the lovely Victoria Forester. And I tagged along looking for ... well, I shan't repeat myself again.

And I remembered why I loved this book.

Gaiman has a gift for words, one that I covet (I know... bad pastor, bad!). Coupled with his wild imagination, Gaiman creates unique worlds with every story he weaves. And while Stardust is short, it's an excellent outing through a miraculous world where stars fall from the sky, old witches eat hearts to stay young, and getting your heart's desire doesn't necessarily mean getting the girl.

And hey, I even found my gay sky pirate. Truth be told, I think my literary gay-dar is on the fritz because I didn't think the guy seemed that gay. Maybe I should just chalk it up to dramatic license on the part of the movie and move on.

Speaking of which, I have yet to see the movie adaptation. I'm hoping it's half as magical as the book.

Talion: Revenant

I guess I'm in a Stackpole kind of mood. After finishing his latest trilogy, I had a hankering for Talion: Revenant.

While this isn't Stackpole's first published novel, his author's notes at the end make it clear that this was the first novel he wrote. It's interesting comparing this to his last three; the plot is a little more simple and focuses around one character, namely Nolan ra Sinjaria.

Nolan is a Talion. The Talions are an ancient order of peace keepers. Some are trained as soldiers, some as cavalry. Some fly hawks the size of horses. Some learn arcane spells. Some are clerks. But Nolan is a Justice. Justices wander the Shattered Empire and set things right.

The Master of all Talions has a particularly dangerous assignment for Nolan. He has to head to Hamis to stop an assassin from killing the king. But this mission dredges up painful memories from his past, not only from his years before becoming a Talion but also from his days as a student.

What makes this book a fun read is that Stackpole seamlessly jumps from Nolan's mission to Hamis to his past. He always has something that makes the transition fit together (for example, at the end of one chapter, he receives a distressing written message from an ally; at the end of the next chapter, he receives a distressing written message from a former friend).

Nolan is an extremely likable character as well. You almost wish he could patrol your neighborhood by the time the book is done. While he is interested in dispensing justice, he wants to do so in a way that doesn't terrify the inhabitants of the Shattered Empire (a quality that not all Justices share).

If you want a taste of this story, read Shepherd, a short story about Nolan. And then go and read the book.

What has me hopeful is that at the end of Shepherd, Stackpole says that there could be another Talion book in the works. I hope there is. I enjoyed questing with Nolan for a second time and I hope I can do so again soon.

Spore!

Okay, once again, I want this game.



According to what I've seen, it'll be released in March. I can't wait.

But I have a healthy suspicion that I'll need to upgrade my computer at some point to make it run nice and pretty.

Review Two-Fer -- "Cartomancy" and "The New World"

Last night I finished reading The New World by Michael Stackpole. But I can't talk about that just yet because that's the third book in the trilogy. I haven't talked about Cartomancy yet.

Cartomancy continues the story started in A Secret Atlas and, for the most part, focuses around the Anturasi family. All of them have trials to face.

Keles Anturasi is a prisoner in Felarati. He needs to find a way to escape from the clutches of Prince Pyrust and find his way back to Nalenyr. Jorim Anturasi, having learned that he used to be the god Tetcomchoa/Wentoki, must relearn his divine powers. Nirati Anturasi, having been brutally murdered, finds herself in a magical land with her grandfather, Qiro.

But there's more to it than just the Anturasis ... er, however you would make that name plural. The swordsman who called himself Moravan Tolo struggles not only to remember who he is, but he also faces an invasion by horrific creatures that serve the evil Prince Nelesquin. Ciras Dejote, Moravan's former apprentice, searches through the Wastes for the Empress Cyrsa. And Prince Cyron, the ruler of Nalenyr, must deal with both internal and external threats as he tries to defend his country both from Prince Pyrust and Nelesquin's invaders.

Complicated? You bet! But that's part of what makes this such a fun read. Like I said in my review of A Secret Atlas, it did take a second reading for me to keep all the characters straight, but by the time I read Cartomancy, it was a lot easier.

My only complaint is that I saw the surprise twist at the end coming. That's it, really.

That brings us to the final book in the trilogy, namely The New World.

Things have not gotten much better. Keles, having escaped from Felarati, discovers that he has incredible powers that he doesn't understand and can barely control. Jorim, having reclaimed his divine identity, finds himself trapped in the Nine Hells, trying desperately to stop Nessagafel, a fallen god. Nirati discovers the truth about her grandfather and her lover, Nelesquin, and fights to stop them.

And on the non-Anturasi front, Moravan Tolo, who has recovered his identity, continues to fight against Nelesquin, who looks poised to conquer the known world. Ciras Dejote has succeeded in finding Cyrsa's retainers and leads them into the battle. And Prince Cyron finds himself in an unlikely alliance.

This book was wild, to put it bluntly. Lots of fighting, lots of battles. Stackpole has a wit about him that keeps me coming back to his stories time after time after time.

The only problem with the story as a whole is that it was so complicated, I didn't see all of the connections. The best example of this is the struggle between the gods with Jorim and Nessagafel at the center. I didn't see how that connected with the fight between Nelesquin and Cyrsa until Stackpole explained it at the very end. It almost seemed like there were two unrelated stories in the book, both highly engaging, but I wish the connection would have been a bit clearer.

Naturally, I had a problem with the theology presented in the book. Stackpole's musings about the nature of faith and how it relates to the gods was interesting but fell kind of flat for me (for obvious reasons).

In spite of that, the climax was phenomenal and had me laughing out loud with delight.

If you haven't read Michael Stackpole, he's worth the effort. Trust me. You'll like his books.

CSFF Blog Tour: The Legend of the Firefish

Like I said in my entry yesterday, this month's blog tour focuses on The Legend of the Firefish by George Bryan Polivka.

Shiver me timbers! If ye be lookin' fer adventuer on the high seas, matey, then look no further.

Oh, forget it. I can't do a whole review in pirate-talk.

Anyway, the story centers around Packer Throme, a seminary drop-out turned swordsman. He wishes to get on board the Trophy Chase and help Scat Wilkins, notorious pirate, to hunt the legendary Firefish, a ferocious creature known for its exotic meat.

The story is also about Packer's sweetheart, Panna Seline. Panna doesn't want Packer to go and so she leaves the safety of her home and heads out after Packer only to get caught up in an adventure and a plot bigger than her.

Polivka's writing is great. He kept my attention and, during a climactic part of the book, kept me reading. It was as if I had glue on my hands. I simply could not put the book down. He has an eye for swashbuckling adventure and his prose carries you through the action scenes.

Having said that, there were a few things that bugged me.

First of all, there's how Polivka handled point-of-view. Most books I read handles P.O.V. the same way: if the author is going to jump into the head of another character within a chapter, there's an extra return between paragraphs making it clear that a shift has happened.

Polivka didn't do that. Instead, he would jump to a new P.O.V. at the end of each paragraph instead of at the end of a section. That took a little getting used to because we'd suddenly be in someone else's head and I had no idea we were going to make the jump.

But that's not what bugged me. Instead, what bothered me is that even though he was handling P.O.V. shifts in his own unique way, Polivka would still throw in random section breaks at times that didn't feel right. It was the same scene, no major time had passed, but yet a new section started even though we had been bouncing between P.O.V.s in the former.

It's strictly an aesthetic thing, I know, but it bothered me as I was reading.

The second thing that bothered me was the fact that Polivka seemed to be keeping a foot in reality and a foot in the fictional, so to speak. The countries of Nearing Vast and Drammun are obviously fictional. So are the Achawuk and the Firefish. The Christianity, though, is straight out of our world.

I kind of wish that Polivka would have either kept the story entirely in our world, simply inserting the Firefish into this reality (and playing with the history of Europe in a counterfactual historical kind of way) or pulled the trigger completely and invented a Christianity-analogue for his fictional realm, one that would be easily recognizable and relatable.

I'm not sure how easily he could have accomplished this. I'm not even sure if it's a good idea. But for me, personally, it felt awkward.

There is one other issue I had with the book, but I'm not sure if I can or should share it. I'm still processing it mentally. Maybe I'll bring it up in the tour; maybe I'll keep it to myself.

At any rate, don't let my minor pet peeves dissuade you from reading this book. It be a rip-roarin' yarn of adventure on the high seas. Arrrrrrr!

An' be sure to cast yer eyes on what me mateys on the S.S. Blog Tour are sayin' as well.

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Merrie Destefano
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Russell Griffith
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John Ottinger
Lyn Perry
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Daniel I. Weaver

CSFF Blog Tour: Day -1

Tomorrow the blog tour will start up for The Legend of the Firefish by George Bryan Polivka. I'll be submitting my review tomorrow and probably blathering on the other two days. But there's something that occurred to me this past month that I wanted to share with my tourmates. Rather than dedicate one of the three days of the Firefish tour to it, I figured I'd post it a day early so anyone traipsing into my blog can see this and hopefully react.

I had a brainstorm the other day about marketing Christian speculative fiction. Obviously we are all hoping to call attention to this worthy field. The way I see it, we basically are trying to reach out to two groups:

1) Established Christian fiction readers

2) New Christian fiction readers, perhaps people who like sci-fi, fantasy, and the rest but are unaware that there is a Christian version of it.

My idea deals with how to reach that second contingent. There is a place where sci-fi and fantasy aficionados gather on a yearly basis, a place where the powerful are flocking to see and be seen, a Mecca of sorts for those who might appreciate a good speculative read.

I'm talking of this place:

That's right, I think the Christian speculative fiction genre should invade Comic-Con International!

Even if you're not a comic book geek at heart (or a closet comic book geek like me), I'm sure you've seen the press that Comic-Con has been getting lately. This is the place where Hollywood goes to premiere their big ticket projects like the upcoming Iron Man movie or the fourth installment of Indiana Jones. Apparently this past year, somewhere around 10,000 people crowded through the doors for one day.

Could you imagine if we could get a booth at Comic-Con? I'm not saying that all 10,000 would pass by our booth. Some may even give us the fish eye. But there might be a few people who would stop by and give this well-deserving genre a look-see. They may even buy some books. They may even become fans.

So what would we need for a booth? Well, off the top of my head:

1) Money. And lots of it unfortunately. According to this form, it costs $1,800 for a bare-minimum 10X10 booth. I don't know if that's per day or just one flat fee.

2) Swag. I've never been to Comic-Con before, but my brother-in-law is a veteran. He says that the way to get people to your booth is to give out free stuff. Posters, tote bags, that sort of thing. If we're going to attract any attention, we would need to be able to shout, "Free stuff over here!"

3) Books. We'd need a stack of books to sell to the convention goers. Probably not that many, but we would want to be able to sell whatever we could.

4) Volunteers. People would need to man the booth. Probably a few shifts of people. That way it's not just one person trapped in a 10X10 space for hours on end.

5) Authors. It'd be cool if authors would come to sign their books. They could talk to potential readers and that might help a little.

6) Booth babes. Well, maybe not...

Now granted, this might be a little ambitious, but maybe it's time we think a little out-of-the-box. Even if we connected with a few new readers, it could be the start of something good.

So what do you think?

A Secret Atlas

Third time's the charm, I guess.

I'm a big fan of Michael Stackpole. At first it was just because of his Star Wars novels (which, in my not so humble opinion, are better than those of Timothy Zahn. Yes, I went there!). But I finally decided to read his other books such as Talion: Revenant and the DragonCrown War Cycle. So I was extremely excited a few years ago when this book came out.

But I had a little trouble with A Secret Atlas the first time I read it. Lots of characters, lots of place names, and a very complex plot. I read it a second time when the second book in the series, Cartomancy, came out. And now I've read it a third time since the third book, The New World, came out.

I'm glad I did. I didn't fully appreciate how rich a world Stackpole created the first time around.

The story revolves around the Anturasi clan, the royal cartographers of Nalenyr. They are charged with charting the world around them, a world emerging from the throes of what they call the Cataclysm, when a massive release of wild magic brought about an ice age. The charts created by Qiro Anturasi, the clan's patriarch, allows the merchants of Nalenyr to prosper greatly, much to the envy of their neighbors.

Qiro sends his two grandsons, Keles and Jorim, out on expeditions into the unknown. Keles is sent to explore the Wastes, a place where wild magic still reigns. Jorim is sent south on a ship called the Stormwolf to discover new lands. Both men are accompanied by interesting companions as they put themselves in danger, trying to appease their tempermental grandfather.

But other forces are afoot. Prince Pyrust, the regent of Deseirion, is intent on building an empire for himself and threatens Nalenyr. And on top of that, sinister forces are building that could easily tear apart the world as the Anturasi's know it.

Like I said, I had to read this book three times to truly appreciate it. The world that Stackpole has created for his characters to inhabit is so rich and densely layered with cultures and history that it took me that many times to become truly comfortable with it. Don't let that daunt you, though! Maybe I'm just slow.

Part of the reason I had trouble with the density of the backstory is that I missed some details the first time through. For example, at the end of the book, a character reveals himself. This character is a major bad-guy who gets mentioned in passing once or twice earlier in the book. But because it was only in passing, I had forgotten about him completely when he finally popped up. I was completely confused the first time when I got there. The second and third time, though, I caught the earlier references.

That's only a minor criticism. Really, go read these books. They're a good magical romp set in a world that is slowly being discovered.

Jengajam Plugs Part Two: Electric Boogaloo

I'm such an idiot. There was a fourth thing I could have plugged:

Irruption, a fantasy short story I wrote that was published a little over a month ago.

D'oh!

Jengajam Plugs

I've been listening to a podcast by a guy who calls himself Jengaship. I met Jengaship at Red vs. Blue. He schooled me in a Biblical debate and I really respect him for that. He's a witty, erudite guy and he's now branched out into a call-in podcast called the Late Nite Jengajam. I can't always liten to it live, but I always catch up on my iPod.

Anyway, Jenga recently sponsored a contest at the Jengajam's website. He wanted witty, articulate comments on his posts. The winner would receive some airtime to plug whatever he or she wanted. I made a comment that was basically nothing but a silly sycophantic rant.

I won.

Which kind of put me in a quandry. I'm not some Internet celebrity with an impressive project in the works like some of Jenga's previous guests or even future guests. I'm just a barely published author who hasn't quit his day job of being a Lutheran pastor. What projects could I plug? It felt like something of a waste.

But then I put my mind to it and I realized that there were a few projects of mine (or in two cases, projects I'm remotely affiliated with) I could plug. The list started to grow and, before long, I realized that I had so much I could plug, I would run over. What to do, what to do?

So I decided to simply plug my blog and leave this entry for whoever decides to come along. Sorry for the long explanation for those who tuned in to the Jengajam, but here are the projects I could have plugged:

1) "Adventures in Dating" -- This is a machinima series produced by a lady named Decorgal. I provide the voice for one of the characters, namely Elijah. It's done in the Sims 2 and, to put it bluntly, Decorgal is a wizard with the Sims. She is. If she weighed the same as a duck, she'd be in trouble. As much as I enjoyed the Strangerhood, this is so much better.

I could try to sum up the series, but Decorgal did that already in this handy dandy video:




So watch the video, then go download the series and keep an eye out for me.

2) My TEW Diaries -- About a year and a half ago, someone introduced me to the Total Extreme Wrestling videogames (the current game is TEW2007). Entirely programmed by one wrestling fan in England, the TEW series puts you in charge of a wrestling promotion. You are the head booker. You hire, you fire, you book the matches, plan out the storylines, and try to bring your promotion to dominate the business.

For copyright reasons, the game isn't released with real world data (but the dedicated TEW community has crafted numerous mods that allow you to control the WWE/F and the rest at various times). Instead, the game is released with data for the Cornellverse, a fictional universe with over a dozen different promotions you can control. To put it bluntly, the C-verse is incredible. The backstory is rich and densely layered and fans can and do get lost in it easily.

What got my attention about this game is the "dynasty" or diary forum. People will tell stories about what's going on in their games.

Needless to say, that piqued my interest.

So I created a diary about a year and a half ago called "SWF - This Means War!" The SWF, or "Supreme Wrestling Federation," is roughly analogous to the modern WWE. I tossed in a few characters of my own and I was able to build something of a following with it.

When TEW2007 was released, I started a new diary called "MWA - This Means War!" It's basically a sequel to the first.

I won't lie to you, the diaries are long (especially the SWF one), but I'm proud of the work I've done in these.

3) The Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Tour - I'm a writer who loves sci-fi and fantasy. I've even written a Christian sci-fi trilogy. Problem is, Christian sci-fi and fantasy is kind of a dead genre. There's not a lot out there and what little there is often gets overlooked.

To combat this, some people put together a blog tour. Every month, we blog for three days about a chosen book, magazine, and/or website. The idea is to generate buzz about the genre and raise awareness so there can be more opportunities for writers like me.

Believe it or not, it actually works. One way to gauge this is by checking out Technorati's Popular Books page. This ranks books by how much they're being discussed in the blogosphere (or, at least, the portion of the blogosphere that Technorati tracks).

This past month our blog tour took place immediately after the last Harry Potter book was released. Guess what books dominated the Technorati Popular Books page. That's right. Potter everywhere! But because of our concerted effort, we were able to get our book up to number 12 by the end of the week.

I've been participating in the tour for about a year or so. It's been fun. Here are a few of my favorite posts that I've made:

An interview with author Sharon Hinck -- Part One, Part Two, Part Three

Sin Boldly! - an essay in which I discuss whether or not Christian authors should portray "big sins" in their writings

Fearless Day Three - From our last tour. I hadn't read the book but I did some fast tapdancing on the last day of the tour and I think the results came out all right.

So there you go. This is why I couldn't fit it all into five minutes! Yes, I need to work on brevity. I'm well aware of that.

DragonFire

I finished reading DragonFire by Donita K. Paul. This is a good continuation of Paul's series of books on dragons.

Kale and Bardon, married for three years, are faced with quite the crisis: Paladin, Wulder's protector of Amara, is gravely ill and at death's door. Burner Stox and Crim Cropper, an evil husband and wife wizard team, have broken with Pretender and each other, creating a seeming three-way war that threatens to boil over and destroy everyone.

In their desperate bid to save their beloved kingdom, Bardon and Kale must separate, Kale going with her father, Bardon with his mother-in-law, to bring an end to the fighting.

If you haven't read the first three books of the series, it's probably better to start with those before you get to this one (beginning with DragonSpell). The cast is large, the concepts and backstory tangled, and it's easier to simply start at the beginning and work your way here.

Paul once again creates an engaging story, one that kept me reading well into the night. I got lost once or twice, but I think that's because I started "skipping forward," jumping over paragraphs to see what happened next. Not Paul's fault at all, I just get sloppy when I read sometimes.

There is one thing that bugs me about this series, though, and that's the role of Paladin. Is he supposed to be the Christ-figure for the series? If he is, then I've got a major problem with some of the things Paul says about him in this book. If he isn't, then Paul should have made that clearer earlier in the series.

I guess incarnational theology is always a bit tricky to pull off in a fantasy series. In spite of my misgivings, this is a great book for Christians of all ages. But like I said, best to start at the beginning if you haven't already.

CSFF Blog Tour: Fearless Day Three

So we finish up the blog tour for Robin Parrish's Fearless.

I admit, I've been sweating this entry simply because for a while, I was worried I'd have to admit that "I got nothing" (so sorry to the grammaticians out there). But as I thought about it tonight, I realized that I could say something. So bear with me and keep in mind, these are the rambling thoughts of a guy who hasn't read the book. If my thoughts don't intersect with Fearless in any way, it reflects poorly on me, not on Mr. Parrish.

You remember two days ago I said I wished I had read the books? Well, I thought about why tonight and I came to a realization. The reason why is because I can resonate with the basic plot of the books.

From what I understand, the basic premise of Parrish's books is that a group of people have discovered that they've been given special gifts and abilities. Just that idea alone is enough to pique my interest because really, who hasn't wished for specials gifts at one time. The plot resonates because it touches a deep desire within me.

And if you think about it, it's obvious that this plot resonates with a lot of other people as well. Look at the smash hit Heroes: ordinary people wake up one day to discover they have incredible powers and have to "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World." Or X-Men. Same basic idea, namely seemingly ordinary people given tremendous abilities.

Or think of the current literary juggernaut who's been dominating the world the past week or so, dear old Mr. Potter himself. I think part of the reason why those seven books have so captivated people's imagination is because of the way they kick off: an ordinary little boy finds out there's life beyond his cupboard beneath the stairs, to learn he has special gifts and abilities and possibly a heroic destiny.

These stories spark our imaginations because they touch on a deep seated yearning inside us. I want to be special. I want to have unique powers. I want to be a hero.

But usually, sadly, there's a counterpoint to that desire, one that drags us back to reality. The reason we yearn for that is because we believe, deep down, that we're not special. We have no unique powers. We're anything but heroic.

When we think that way, we've missed something important. It puts me in mind of 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, which reads:

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slave or free -- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

"Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body."

In other words, we may not all have incredible powers. We may not even think we have special powers. But we all have unique gifts given to us by our Lord.

More than that, we are all heroes in His eyes. Think of what Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:9 - "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Notice that Pete doesn't say some of you were chosen, a couple of you are royal priests, a minute quantity are God's own people. He says "you." All of you. Together. You're all chosen, royal priests belonging to God. To paraphrase a bit, you're all heroes.

Martin Luther once said (and I'm paraphrasing here; I really need to find this quote someday) that a housewife changing a dirty diaper is giving God as much glory as an archbishop giving a sermon. What he meant is that God is the one who has called us to be where and who we are. He has given us each unique gifts and abilities to carry out that calling, be it "superhero," pastor, writer, housewife, clergy, or whatever. We are heroes in God's eyes when we carry out that calling, using the gifts He's given, to the fullest of our potential.

You're all heroes. You all matter.

So there we go. Does it have anything to do with the book? Ya got me, I dunno. But that's the danger of giving a pastor an open forum.

Go check out what the other participants had to say:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Merrie Destefano
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Russell Griffith
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John Ottinger
Lyn Perry
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Daniel I. Weaver

Next month is Legend of the Firefish. Don't worry. I've placed my order with Amazon already. I (hopefully) won't have to wing it when we do this again.